Mentoring Professional Development
Drive Forward’s Mentoring Programme has enabled countless care-experienced young people to sustain their employment, progress in their careers, and find success for themselves since 2016. We’ve seen that engaging in a professional mentoring relationship is often crucial to a young person (mentee) who wants to take charge of their professional as well as personal development. Our mentors, on the other hand, are eager to seize the opportunity to guide a young individual starting out in their career; sharing experiences, knowledge, and skills. For a mentoring pairing to succeed they require time, commitment, patience and clear plans of action.
For #NationalMentoringDay, we’re sharing Nahom’s journey with his mentor Joe Welton, Account Manager at Amazon Web Services.
Nahom
Nahom was coming to the end of his university course when he found himself at a crossroads. His prospects for finding a job during the height of the pandemic were sobering and so, he reached out to his Careers Advisor, who referred him to our Mentoring Programme.
“When I was searching for jobs in the height of lockdown, there were many rejections but he taught me how to become resilient. Joe helped me to build multiple CV’s that were tailored for different roles to increase my chances of success. Despite having a busy work schedule, Joe always found the time to jump on a call and run me through any questions I had and always gave me good feedback, he even provided tips on how to do presentations better. Joe has and continues to help shape my career because I never knew what sector I wanted to specialise in before I met him. However, since being paired with him, we have narrowed down all of the industries I could see myself working in. Not only did Joe personally help me with all of his time and knowledge, he also used his connections to widen my network. This was amazing because he connected me to an employee at my current company before I had my interview. As a result, I was able to gain insight on the job role and learn how to answer any questions that may have arisen during my interview.
Mentoring the next leaders: Joe
“Mentoring with Drive Forward has made a profound impact on the way I operate as a leader within my business. Working with Nahom over the past 2 years has taught me a lot about courage, perseverance and integrity, three critical skills for life. Nahom has a deeprooted sense of purpose, cultivated from his start in life – which has honed his ability to turn every challenge into an opportunity and navigate the curveballs that life has thrown his way. The work Drive Forward Foundation does is so important. Whether it’s helping individuals pursue their passion, providing a network to create chances in life or enlightening mentors to the immense talent that is out there within the Care Experience community.
Care to Career
Nahom has been paired with his mentor for over two years now and has gained a full-time Data Analyst at Brainlabs – one of Drive Forward’s committed partners. With the continuous support, guidance and knowledge Joe continues to provide coupled with Nahom’s determination to succeed in his career, we are certain that he has a bright future ahead. Read more mentoring stories here.
Our work at Drive Forward
Drive Forward has been set up to enable care-experienced young people in London to achieve their full potential through sustainable and fulfilling employment. Since 2010, we’ve worked with mentors, over 100 businesses and employers, and supported close to 3,000 young people into meaningful careers. One of the key aspects of our success is working with mentors who are committed to becoming an essential part of a young person’s network. The guidance provided by our mentors helps our young people thrive in whichever career path they choose.
